The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-10-15

which truth can reach us. We must bare
our heads, hush our hearts and lean our
souls to the silence, that we may catch all
the divine orders of life; and as every
truth, hope or inspiration flashes into
our minds, be sure that we have some
thing to give and not to keep.
Our responsibilities are measured only
by our gifts. All that we know or can
learn Of truth belongs to a dying world.
Truth is salvation. Shall we hold it
while the millions perish? What though
we suffer persecution in our work. Christ
is our example. He had neither silver
nor gold, but he gave himself, his love,
his life for humanity. Not when he was
crucified, no not then; but when he
walked the earth and told the truth of the
gospel When he looked upon the null
titude with compassion, when he opened
the eyes of the blind, healed the sick and
raised the dead; when he sweat great
drops OF blood, when he wept over Jeru-
salem, when hefed the multitude, when he
taught that most exquisite OF all prayers
and gave that matchless Sermon on the
Mount, then was he giving his life. Bat
In those last days, when the world thought
his experience tragedy, he was finding
the fullness to himself of that life which he
had been giving. Christ came, he taught,
he lived, he died that men might have
life and have it more abundantly; that
they might have it to give, and not to
hoard. Peter learned, perhaps as his
final lesson here on earth, that the mis-
sion OF Christ's gospel was to all. God
taught him in that wonderful vision that
he should not discriminate for the Faith
er is no respector of persons, but in every
nation he that feareth him and worketh
righteousness is accepted with him.
I am aware that this is fundamental
doctrine of our church, but do we not,
like Peter, need heavenly vision to i'm
press it upon our hearts? 1t was one Of
the leading principles in the teaching of
Jesus, the fulness OF which he had given
to Peter, but the apostle needed the vision
and the voice of the spirit to bring him
to realization OF its significance. No
truth has divine authority until some ex-
perienoe presses it home to the soul. I
am persua led that as denomination we
do not fully comprehend that grand word
Universal" Perhaps it is not possible
until the word Of God shall grow and
multiply more extensively in our hearts
for us to draw out its full significance,
much less to live by its broadcast defini-
milton and to our highest opportunities.
Do we not need to grow in grace and in
knowledge of this divinest of all truths?
Do we not need renewed and constant
inspiration to make us realize that God is
indeed no respector OF persons. A re-
ligious theory without an inspiration
back OF it Is dead weight on any heart,
while soul baptized with the spirit will
| find the truth not only in theories and
PHILOSOPHERS but everywhere in the wide
universe. God has not revealed himself
fully to the world. Eye has not seen nor
the heart conceived all that he hath pre-
pared for them that love him. IL God
should lay all his treasures of truth at
our feet asking no effort on our part, we
would be imbecile before him and he
would be dead God to us. With all our
revelations and experiences. together with
the sacred books of other ages and coun-
tries, the whole of Gods truth has not
been reached. Universalism includes all
these, and from them all we may learn
some truth. Man must continue to grow,
to ask questions, to study science, to work
and pray and by every means to climb
the sleeps Of knowledge and faith. 1t is
not irreverent to leave the past behind
us. There is no disrespect in trying to
gain more truth than our fathers knew.
God never issued the command to any
human soul to. stand still, but he has said
"Come unto me-" "Seek and We shall
find" "Ask and ye shall receive"
Shall we not do for the future what
the past has done for us, leave some way
mark, that coming generations shall know
that we moved onward with our faces to-
ward the source of truth? or shall we
become pillars of salt, forever looking to-
ward the dead past? What this age needs,
what our church needs, what we individ-
uslly need Is conservation. We need a
spiritual awakening like Peters penta
costal experience and his thrilling vision
to make all of Gods truths and Gods
claims living realities to US. Truth is
powerless until it receives the devotion of
the human soul; until it is baptized with
tears of sorrow and affection. Experience
makes it sacred. Nothing in life is to
me divine till have had some experience
that awakens the spirit and sets the foun-
tain of feeling flowing in rapid or ripping
streams through my whole being. Love
is not divine till L have loved. Faith is
not divine till my soul longs for and be-
lieyes something which 1 cannot quite
reach. Truth is not divine till l have
learned its power to supply my deepest
needs. But OIL when it has touched
some vital chord within my soul which
vihrates with responsive thrills, then for
me that truth exists, and can appreciate
it; can feed upon and grow toward it.